Historian Arthur
Schlesinger Jr. has described Frances Perkins in vivid terms:
"Brisk and articulate, with vivid dark eyes, a broad
forehead and a pointed chin, usually wearing a felt tricorn
hart, she remained a Brahmin reformer, proud of her New England
background . . . and intent on beating sense into the heads
of those foolish people who resisted progress. She had pungency
of character, a dry wit, an inner gaiety, an instinct for
practicality, a profound vein of religious feeling, and a
compulsion to instruct . . ."

As Secretary of Labor she played
a key role writing New Deal legislation, including minimum wage
laws. However, her most important contribution came in 1934 as chairwoman
of the President's Committee on Economic Security. In this position
she was involved in all aspects of the reports and hearings that
ultimately resulted in the Social Security Act of 1935.

Prior to going to Washington, Perkins
held positions in State government in New York, first as an aid
to governor Al Smith and then to Franklin Roosevelt when he became
governor. Smith, a machine politician from the old school, was an
early social reformer with whom Frances Perkins made many a common-cause.
At Smith's funeral in 1944 two of his former Tammany Hall political
cronies were overheard to speculate on why Smith had become a social
crusader. One of them summed the matter up this way: "I'll
tell you. Al Smith read a book. That book was a person, and her
name was Frances Perkins. She told him all these things and he believed
her."

Following her tenure as Secretary
of Labor in 1945, Ms. Perkins was asked by President Truman to serve
on the U.S. Civil Service Commission, which she did until 1952 when
her husband died, and she resigned from Federal service. Following
her government service career, Ms. Perkins continued to be active
as a teacher and lecturer until her death on May 14, 1965.